Fire's New Signee Feels Right At Home

The Chicago Fire's first international signee should have no trouble feeling at home. The city's large Polish-American community will see to that.

"I have many friends here," said Piotr (Peter) Nowak after being officially introduced Tuesday. Nowak, 33, the Polish national team captain, was allocated to the Fire after being acquired by Major League Soccer from 1860 Munich in the German Bundesliga.

"For my family (living in Chicago) will be easier," he said. "And I wanted a new challenge. I think we will have a very good team."

Nowak has spent the last 3 1/2 seasons with 1860 Munich as a play-making midfielder. This season he appeared in 12 games with no goals and two assists. During the 1995-96 season, Nowak was voted as the best playmaker in the Bundesliga, considered one of the premier leagues in the world, after scoring seven goals and assisting on 11 others.

"I told him that he's a playmaker and that he sets other people up," said Fire coach Bob Bradley. "But clearly I will challenge him to be someone who in this league can score goals."

The Fire have four more international players available for allocation (the league signs players and then assigns them to teams). Bradley was asked again Tuesday about the prospect of bringing a Hispanic marquee name to Chicago.

Bradley has been in Mexico looking at prospective players, but the bigger question is whether the league can afford players such as a Carlos Hermosillo or Ramon Ramirez.

Bradley is also at the mercy of the MLS signing a Hispanic player and then allocating him to the Fire. Bradley said a lot of other teams would like to add Hispanic players.

One sure way would be to make a trade. Talks between the Fire and Los Angeles Galaxy have been continuing. It appears that any deal with the Galaxy will include the Fire's first pick in the expansion draft, Danny Pena. Pena has said he doesn't want to leave Los Angeles. Jorge Campos' name continues to be floated around along with midfielder Martin Machon.

Season opener: MLS released Tuesday the dates of the teams' home openers. The Fire will begin its inaugural season at 6:30 p.m. on March 21 against fellow expansion team Miami Fusion in Ft. Lauderdale. The home opener at Soldier Field will be at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 4, against the Tampa Bay Mutiny.